“When you choose to operate outside of your calling, you are operating outside of God’s power, but what exactly does that mean, to be outside of God’s power?
Maybe should I put it like this: in stepping outside of the uniqueness that God has created for you, you have limited your access to, and experience of, the power of the Holy Spirit.
But the Holy Spirit is within us, no?
We do not lose access to the Holy Spirit, but we do lose His power and presence at the level we would have, were we walking within our purpose. On the other hand, when you are living according to the calling God has designed you for, you will find the power to be more and do more than you would if left to your own devices. It is almost like “living in the sweet spot.” It’s living according to His strength and not your own.
So, Samson left “the sweet spot” for something he thought was just a bit sweeter and would now have to face the consequences.
20 She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. (Judges 16:20)
At this point Samson, being such a good deceiver, even deceived himself. He had somehow convinced himself that he had everything under control, and that there was nothing to worry about. Through countless lies, his conscience had been defiled and his moral senses were destroyed. “Why would anyone desire to attack me? Surely, Delilah just wants to learn more about me. That is what love is.”
F B Meyer warns that “Through neglect of watching and prayer – or by reason of carelessness in the walk and conversation–it is quite possible to break that holy connection between ourselves and heaven which is the secret of deliverance, and the talisman of victory. There is always a Delilah ready to sheer off the locks of our strength if we allow ourselves to sleep in her lap. And out strength may be gone ere we know it. ”
Unfortunately, the rest of the story shows the tragic end of a believer who did not let God have His way with his life. Samson loses his hair, the symbol of his Nazirite dedication, yet we could argue that dedication had been abandoned a long time prior to this. Then he loses his strength, but he is ignorant of it until he is overpowered.
Reminds me a little of that song.
“Well you only need the light when it’s burning low Only miss the sun when it starts to snow Only know you love her when you let her go”
Samson has surrendered his strength, his connection and his authority. The Spirit who had come upon him with such power in the past, had now departed from him, and I am sure he is missing that presence right about now when he most needs it.
We do have to be careful of ending up in a similar position to Samson’s. Many of us drift away from God through stupidity and idleness, and do not realize what we have until we have lost it. We do not appreciate what we had until we have let it go.
Paul E. Little has a quote in which he says the “collapse in the Christian life is seldom a blowout. It is usually a slow leak”, and this is truly what we have seen in the life of Samson.
21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison. (Judges 16:21)
There is something really sad about what they did to Samson.
Well, they did gouge his eyes out, how can that not be sad?
It is the stages in which they dealt with him that truly stands out. First, of course, there is the mutilation. They gouged out his eyes. The same eyes which so often led him to lust over the philistine women. Next, they removed him from his home, his safe space, and deported him to Gaza. Why Gaza? Was that just by chance? Who knows? This should have been the first time Samson had visited the place, but unfortunately, he had already made himself familiar with the area and the people in the past, spending a night with a harlot. Last time it was by choice, this time he is there in chains, facing incarceration. Finally, there was the humiliation.
After all the humiliation they received from Samson, it is only natural that they would want to return the favour.
They set him to grinding in the prison. Grinding in the prison was the work of slaves. It was the work of animals. His head had been shaved. His eyes gouged out. Left on his hands and his knees, the mighty Samson pushed the pole that powers the press that grinds the grain. What a shame.
Samson is the epitome of a man who has become a slave to sin. He continued having relations with Delilah even though he knew she was bent on betraying him to his enemies. Samson was not stupid, he was in fact an intelligent man, but he was a slave to his lust. We know that some of the most dangerous practices bring temporary pleasure, and that is why they are so entangling. Freedom, however, is found in becoming a slave of Jesus Christ.
“When we are in the grip of an evil practice that is ruining our life, we can acknowledge our sin and helplessness to the Lord, submit fully to Him, and be assured that He will deliver us.” (H. V Lugt)
I feel like this was a pretty bleak section, but all hope is not lost.
“However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off. “(Judges 16:22)
My Sunday Skl 